Ghost Feet - Wires and Chords

Ghost Feet - Wires and ChordsGhost Feet are the latest addition to Dropping Gems, an American label and collective focused on melodic and vaguely hip-hop-oriented electronic music. Other members include Citymouth, Brownbear and Soft Metals, and associated acts have included Devonwho and Shigeto, to give you an idea. This particular duo of "Hobbes" and "Qloq" hail from Olympia, Washington, and their rather post-rock influenced debut EP sounds quintessentially Pacific Northwest in its build. Wires and Chords is the sound of temperate rainforests, light peeking through a densely layered shade of evergreen.

If that imagery wasn't enough to get it across, Wires and Chords skews to the darker and more solitary side of the pastoral, and opener "Top Papez" sets the mood forthrightly, as synths and strings heave and burst dramatically in the folds of plaintive guitar plucking that sits somewhere between Bernard Sumner and Explosions in the Sky. The motion here is decidedly laidback, methodical in its whimsical sway; "Car Pool Time" maintains its determinedly smooth oscillations even through glitchy samples, voices and alarm sounds. There's a definite formula, as even the slightly more pushy "Pull Ups"—where the guitars are pushed along by fat bass notes and the drums finally hold some weight—consists of mostly the same identifiable elements as the other tracks. The EP's one longer-form moment "Bog" is the highlight, and it's less a beat track than a meandering amble, preferring a laboured one-two step as it traverses twigs, rocks and other surfaces as the guitar alternately murmurs and wails quietly in solitude.